The Power of Creativity in Coaching

“The soul speaks in image.” — Carl Jung

Coaches are trained in the art of conversations. Coaches help clients look for more profound answers by asking probing and sometimes provocative questions. The challenge is that spoken language is left-brain-driven and only takes us so far.

To get to the more profound transformation, we need to help clients get out of the logical, highly articulated world in which they operate day-to-day and into the body and mind where the stories that drive their life are unconsciously operating. These stories are often invisible and outside of our awareness.  

Without getting to the heart of the stories that drive our behavior, we can not tap into our inner resourcefulness, “everything they need to get what they want,” as this resource is often trapped within those stories. 

Several years ago, I began incorporating art into my journal. At first, it was an image that seemed to capture the essence of the day. I looked for images that helped me express a feeling or emotion at other times. “A picture’s worth a thousand words” took on new meaning and depth. This image in my journal helped me stop reaching and forcing words, and I found rest in this expression.  

Imagery bypasses the filtering and rationalizing of the language-oriented part of the brain and taps directly into the stories that drive our behavior. It is a self-directed process and offers safety, privacy, and pacing that supports new insights.

Why a Visual Journal Process?

Did you know that of the four primary learning styles (auditory, kinesthetic, interactive, and visual), 65% of the population prefers the visual learning style?

Now consider the most common approach to coaching. It’s a conversation that relies heavily on auditory. It’s interactive, yes, and it can also be kinesthetic if you design experiments. But we usually leave the 65% of visual learners to experience coaching through their non-preferred learning styles.

Visual Journaling is a powerful way to solve problems and gain insights that the linear, non-visual approaches to thinking and learning don’t access. This blended method helps us go beyond what we know in our rational mind, so we can access other ways of knowing – the knowing that results in original thinking, new ideas, healing, and breakthroughs. 

This process is neither touchy-feely nor an academic dump. It is a heart-mind-body-soul experience that everyone can access and integrates all the learning styles. Moreso, it allows the coaching client to tap into the “inner resourcefulness” that is often profoundly buried within and beneath their stories.

As a student of adult learning, I have also been fascinated by the way Visual Journaling supports the principles of adult learning and coaching:

• • Adults must self-direct their learning.

• • Adults must have opportunities for self-reflection when learning something new.

• • Adults must be able to access their own experiences when learning something new for the insights to stick.

• • Adults need a purpose for learning – not just learning for learning’s sake.

• • Adults must learn to learn.

I was so energized by the level of breakthroughs I had by applying this visual process that I began using it in my online group coaching programs.

I learned that insight was accelerated by tapping directly into the subjective experience using symbols, color, and metaphor. Program members were accessing information about themselves that was deeply meaningful to them. These learnings were not rationalized stories but emotional, body-based, healing insights that lead to greater clarity and more aligned actions.

Learn more about this process at The Visual Journaler.